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The Review - THEATRE by JOHN COURTNEY O' CONNOR
Published: 28 February 2008

The colonial guilt of an occupied country

I'LL BE THE DEVIL
Tricycle Theatre

IT seems to be the fashion, in these post-colonial days, to “investigate” the participation of the Irish in their role in British imperialism.
I recently heard the broadcaster Andrew Marr comment on the policing of India by the Irish for 200 years, only to be “put down” by the Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm’s ironic retort: “I think the Scots had something to do with it also.”
In Leo Butler’s new work, commissioned by the RSC, the writer exposes the willingness of Irish Catholic peasant farmers to plug the vacuum created by the seven-year war against the French. They collaborate with the British Army to bolster the Irish ports left vulnerable after garrison forces had departed for foreign parts. Before the Catholic Emancipation Act a Catholic could not be an officer in the British Army, but this was waived when convenient.
The main protagonist in the play is Coyle (Eoin McCarthy), a British Army lieutenant and a lapsed Catholic, now Church of Ireland, with an Irish mistress, Maryanne, and two illegitimate children. Maryanne (Derbhle Crotty) is also his sister-in-law, whose husband (his brother) had his lands confiscated and was hanged by the authorities for being a “horse thief”.
Derbhle Crotty’s mother/mistress character is a Brechtian-type Mother Courage who enslaves the children to suffer a life of degradation at the hands of the British occupiers – for the sake of herself and her children’s survival.
But, unlike Brecht’s opportunist character, she lacks compassion.
This is a strong metaphor for the duplicity of the Irish Catholic peasant, but these are pre-Republican times and the Great Famine is further down the road – something that will change the whole concept of “John Bull’s other Island”.
This is a powerful production with a very talented, predominantly Irish cast and director Ramin Gray has injected much pace. It stuns visually – just admire Charles Balfour’s creative lighting.
Comparison may be drawn with the British occupation of Iraq with its Irish regiments: the Irish Guards and Royal Irish Rangers, among others.
The piece has echoes of The Tempest (its inspiration); also Sarah Kane’s Blasted and Howard Brenton’s Romans in Britain.
But I would just like to remind the writer: Don’t you think the English had something to do with it also?
Until March 8
020 7328 1000

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